Give them a distraught heart; ¹  may your curse be on them!

But the magicians of Egypt did the same ¹  by their secret arts, and so ²  Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ³  and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron ⁴  – just as the Lord had predicted.

The magicians said ¹  to Pharaoh, “It is the finger ²  of God!” But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ³  and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted.

Pharaoh sent representatives to investigate, ¹  and indeed, not even one of the livestock of Israel had died. But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ²  and he did not release the people.

¹ The Lord said ²  to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order to display ³  these signs of mine before him, ⁴ 

So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not release the Israelites from his land.

And as for me, I am going to harden ¹  the hearts of the Egyptians so that ²  they will come after them, that I may be honored ³  because ⁴  of Pharaoh and his army and his chariots and his horsemen.

Go up ¹  to a land flowing with milk and honey. But ²  I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you ³  on the way.”

Why harden your hearts like the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? ¹  When God ²  treated them harshly, didn’t the Egyptians send the Israelites on their way? ³ 

I was angry because of their sinful greed; I attacked them and angrily rejected them, ¹  yet they remained disobedient and stubborn. ² 

They continually say ¹  to those who reject what the Lord has said, ²  ‘Things will go well for you!’ ³  They say to all those who follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts, ‘Nothing bad will happen to you!’

He says, ¹  “Do not be stubborn like they were at Meribah, ²  like they were that day at Massah ³  in the wilderness, ⁴ 

Blessed is the one who is always cautious, ¹  but whoever hardens his heart ²  will fall into evil.

For these are rebellious people – they are lying children, children unwilling to obey the Lord’s law. ¹ 

“I have made your face adamant ¹  to match their faces, and your forehead hard to match their foreheads.

When we heard this, both we and the local people ¹  begged him not to go up to Jerusalem.

So then, ¹  God ²  has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden. ³ 

The Lord said ¹  to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, ²  see that you ³  do before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put under your control. ⁴  But I will harden ⁵  his heart ⁶  and ⁷  he will not let the people go.

When such a person ¹  hears the words of this oath he secretly ²  blesses himself ³  and says, “I will have peace though I continue to walk with a stubborn spirit.” ⁴  This will destroy ⁵  the watered ground with the parched. ⁶ 

But the Lord hardened ¹  Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted to Moses.